Korean Job Discussion Forums

teachingld2004 · Joined: 29 Mar 2004

I am an accredited teacher from America.

Yes, I had summers off and made more money. Here I just took a new job in a kindergarden hogwan. (I love it, that's why)

DId I work less hours at home? Hum..., lets see. 8:45 till 2:45. Came in at least one hour earlier, and stayed at least one hour later. Took work home nights and weekends. Wrote reports, talked to parents, had meetings with the principal, and had major headaches.

When parents complained, it was the teachers fault. (same as here).

When children could not understand, it was the teachers fault. (same as here)

Paid very high rent, paid super high bills, had so much stress. (worked in Brooklyn where the schools are full of drugs and crime).

Save money at home? Not at all. Lived paycheck to paycheck.

I like what I do, it makes me happy. Been here for 4 years. When I leave Korea in 2 or 3 more years I will have enough money saved for a down payment on a house, a car, and a new life. (in a new state)

I will easily find a job, and be back home. Could I have saved this amount of money at home to relocate? Nope. I have paid bills back home, and helped my oldest son with his business. I never could have done that.

I did not want to work here in a public school, I will deal with that when I get back home.

THe Korean teachers in the public school make more money then we do, but they deal with the pressure. Let them be.

Homer · Guest

-666- · Joined: 12 Jan 2005

I have worked in Canada as a teacher for 2 years before coming over here. Thanks to Klein's insanity.

When I am finished teaching I am free to leave the school(in Canada)

Meetings that I have to attend usually(not always) pertain to curriculum changes, matters to do with my classes or the school

In Korea meetings are mandatory wastes of time. I go, I sit, I listen to somebody speak Korean for an hour and I leave. Am I told what the meeting is about? No. Am I asked for my input? No. Does it pertain to my class? I dont know, they WONT tell me.

Yes I do alot more marking in Canada and I deal with the parents on a weekly basis.

Here I dont do much marking because they dont give tests in English, I dont mark the tests they do give because for some strange reason English tests are written in Korean!

I would be happy to work on making tests and marking them, I have even asked if I could and was told it would be 'too difficult for the students'.

Vacation time. My next job will probably be in Canada or at a university.

I have observed the Korean teachers conducting English classes. It consists primarily of playing a CD and having the students repeat continously for 40 minutes. Often the CD voices are poorly done and either speak too quickly or the pronuciation is poor.

I would like to point out that as long as Koreans treat qualified foreign teachers as slightly better qualified hogwan instructors the problems will only increase.

Is it any wonder that EPIK has trouble finding 100 teachers a year? Their grandiose plans of getting 1000 teachers went up in smoke years ago and yet they continue to try to push crap conditions, in some cases worse than hogwans, on teachers and instructors.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

jaykimf · Joined: 24 Apr 2004

First of all, there is a dual standard, but it is not a distinction between Koreans and foreigners, it is a distinction between regular , full time, permanent employees and irregular temporary contract workers. This distinction is widespread in Korea, not just in schools. There are far more Koreans who are irregular workers than there are foreigners. The public schools also hire Koreans under temporary contracts. They don't get paid any more than what a beginning regular employee would. The foreign contract workers are actually paid much better than the Korean contract workers. Not only that, they are paid more than the regular teachers with less than X years of experience.

Secondly, As Homer pointed out, the foreigners don't have A Korean teacher's license. Regardless of what qualifications they may have at home, they have not applied for and received a Korean teachers license. A Canadian moving to the U.S. would have to apply for and receive a U.S. license , why shouldn't they have to do the same in Korea?

Thirdly, Regardless of whether they have a license, if they apply for a lesser position in which a license is not required, why should they expect to get the same terms as a higher, licensed position when you don't have the same duties and responsibilities?

Consider this case: You are a fully qualified and licensed teacher in France. (and a native speaker )You move to Buffalo N.Y. U.S.A. . You don't bother to apply for a N.Y. state teaching license but instead apply for positions in which a license is not required. The local school board has no open positions for regular permanent staff, so instead you accept a 1 year temporary contract to work as a bilingual education teaching assistant or paraeducator or whatever they choose to call you. You go to work and discover that even though you are only a unlicensed teaching assistant, you make more than the regular teachers who have less than x years of experience. However you do make considerably less than the regular teachers who have many years of experience. Furthermore, your French is much better than any of the American teachers. What do you do? Go to an online discussion forum and complain that American schools have dual standards and treat foreigners unfairly?

peppermint · Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 11:34 pm Post subject:

Foreigners hired to work in public schools are generally hired as Assistant Teachers and I'm sure that's part of the issue too.

Homer · Guest

jaykimf,

Very well said. That's pretty much the core of the issue here.

Well done.

phaedrus · Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Location: I'm comin' to get ya.

guangho · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 2:30 am Post subject:

It's simple economics. English is the language of world business and Koreans want to learn it. They have two choices- choose from a limited pool of qualified, experienced people and pay them through the nose or take any schmuck off the boat and pay them peanuts. If Korean were the language of world commerce, American schools would face the same choice.

The only reason so many bad contracts and employers abound here is because they choose to take anyone who is white and ambulatory. (And because the dregs of the world descend on those positions.)

jaykimf · Joined: 24 Apr 2004

phaedrus · Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Location: I'm comin' to get ya.

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

Touche'

That is one of the points exactly. Even the least qualified person here teaching English has more English education than the highest qualified Korean.

Think about it. You go to school for 12 years where you study English every day. You go to a Uni for 4 years to get your degree where you also study English. By the time you finish with school you have 16 years of English under your belt. Not to mention the fact you have been immersed in the language and culture for your entire life.

The pronunciation of Korean teachers ranges from okay to abysmal. In the public schools the teachers pronunciation is quite bad. There is one teacher in my school who has decent pronunciation and even she makes alot of errors. I have found the Korean teachers in hogwans to have much better pronunciation.

So Koreans want to pay basicaly low wages for experts. The government regulations and laws against foreigners teaching privately are simply designed to keep the majority of money in Korean hands.